Image source, PA Wire

Moments before the prime minister's Twitter account confirmed the new deal, Boris Johnson was seen leaving Downing Street via the back entrance.

He is due to appear at the EU summit in Brussels at lunchtime.

While our eyes are fixed on Brussels, a session on international trade questions has kicked off in the House of Commons.

Trade minister Conor Burns says the UK has completed 16 roll-over trade agreements ahead of Brexit.

He told MPs the 16 "continuity trade agreements" with 46 countries represents 72% of the UK's total trade.

But chairman of the Commons international trade committee Angus MacNeil said the "slow progress" in securing continuity deals "doesn't bode well, surely, for any future trade agreements".

The SNP MP added: "Meanwhile the UK government is endangering the trade potential of companies in the UK. When will the other 24 [deals] be done?"

Mr Burns said the government was working "aggressively" to continue the roll-over and many agreements were "very close" to being completed.

While the UK front pages have Brexit "on a knife edge" and "hanging in the balance", the Irish Daily Mail, published in Northern Ireland and Ireland, appeals to the DUP's leader.

Image source, Reuters

Jacob Rees-Mogg and Stephen Barclay have just left 10 Downing Street.

On the way to his car, Mr Rees-Mogg was chased by photographers, causing him to comment: "Ants can run at 300 miles per hour, but photographers can run faster."

The House of Commons leader was, it seems, referring to yesterday's news that the Saharan silver ant can run 108 times its body length each second.

Although that only amounts to 2mph, it's the equivalent of a human running at 360mph, external.

Anyway, we digress. Back to Brexit...

Image source, Reuters

Steven Aiken, the only candidate in the contest to be the new leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, tells BBC Radio Ulster the "best thing" for Northern Ireland would be for the UK to remain in the EU.

He says: "This has been a disaster for Northern Ireland, the only way we can really get out of this is to stay.

"For people in Northern Ireland it is very clear - Boris Johnson's deal is bad for us, the best thing for us in many respects is to stay in."

The UUP, which currently has no sitting MPs in the Commons, campaigned for Remain in the 2016 referendum but has subsequently said the vote to leave had to be respected.

BBC Politics

An EU official has praised the "incredible patience" of the bloc's members during the Brexit process.

The senior official told AFP news agency they would have to consider their options following the DUP's statement announcing its lack of support for Boris Johnson's proposed deal.

"Yesterday we were willing to give more time to the negotiators, still today we don't know how things evolve," the official said.

"So far member states have demonstrated incredible patience."

BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith says Labour has indicated that "it's possible" the party could support a referendum on Boris Johnson's deal.

He says it "significantly strengthens" the chances of a motion for a confirmatory referendum being passed if the party whips its MPs to support it.

But he says the backing of former Tory MPs who rebelled from the party over Brext will be crucial. It looks like a "knife-edge vote", he says.

BBC News Channel

Labour MP Hilary Benn says he would vote in favour of Boris Johnson's Brexit deal in Parliament on Saturday if an amendment was made promising a new referendum.

He said the offer of a "confirmatory referendum" would be a good compromise for the government to come to.

"We cannot continue to push this down the road and therefore the offer of a confirmatory referendum is in the middle," he said.

Mr Benn, who introduced the Act of Parliament designed to prevent a no-deal Brexit on 31 October, said he would campaign to remain in the EU in the event of another referendum.

Image source, EPA

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the UK and EU can still reach an agreement, despite this morning's setback.

Ahead of her attendance at the EU summit in Brussels, she tells the German parliament: "We're on a better path than before but we have not yet reached the goal."

She says "agreement is still possible", which is "why we need to continue to do everything to bring the negotiations to a successful end".

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

Boris Johnson has managed to achieve what he was repeatedly told was impossible.

The withdrawal agreement was, after all, able to be opened up again.

The backstop, after all, was changed - although some of its principles remain in the form of Northern Ireland having some different customs rules and regulations to the rest of the UK.

And there is, after all that, a way of finding a route out of those special arrangements in the shape of votes in the Northern Ireland Assembly - Stormont.

A miracle? Not quite.

Read the full analysis

Image source, Getty Images

At lunchtime, Boris Johnson and other EU leaders will arrive at the EU Council summit in Brussels.

The crunch summit is due to begin at 14:00 UK time (15:00 in Brussels) according to the current timings list, external.

While Brexit will be a focal point in the summit, other items up for discussion today and tomorrow include climate change, recent military action by Turkey in Syria and the possible additions of Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia to the EU.

This afternoon the European Parliament President David Sassoli will address the council before holding a press conference detailing Brexit developments.

We think this is happening at about 17:30 UK time but the council says the timings have not yet been confirmed.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Reuters

Housing Minister Robert Jenrick says this is "a very sensitive moment in the negotiations".

"We want to seize this moment of opportunity to get a deal which allows the UK to leave in an orderly way which is, I think, what most people want," he says.

Despite the DUP's opposition, he says "we have moved a long way" since Boris Johnson met with Ireland's PM Leo Varadkar a week ago.

"There are those who said he wasn’t serious about negotiating, that the EU would never reopen the withdrawal agreement, that there wouldn’t be a possibility of a deal," Mr Jenrick says.

He says there is "no question" the government would undermine protections for the environment and workers' rights.

"We are taking forward Brexit preparations to leave without a deal but we want a deal," he says.

"There isn’t a deadline. We want to get a deal done. We aren’t going to set an artificial deadline. We know that Parliament can move quickly."